Fly-fishing is a sport enjoyed by many people worldwide. In the United States alone 8 million people enjoy the sport of fly-fishing.
Fly-fishing involves the use of delicate and often highly complicated equipment. For instance, equipment required before fly-fishing includes a fly-rod, a reel with many reciprocating mechanical parts, several types of weighted and floating or sinking lines, an array of leader sizes, fly-fishing lures (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "flies", (both wet and dry), a net, various weights called split shots and a creel for carrying captured fish.
This equipment is often very delicate and must be in nearly perfect condition before fly-fishing is attempted, since any flaw in the equipment could prevent one from being successful. For example, a fly-rod has eyelets which guide a specifically designed fly-line, of specified size, along the length of the rod. The reel is usually comprised of many minute and delicate inter-acting mechanical parts which often need tending to by the fisherman. Further, many fly-fishing flies, have small eyelets for attachment to the fishing line. These eyelets often tend to become blocked by glue, dirt and other unwanted material, since many fly-fishermen make their own fly-fishing flies, this is often the case. The net is further comprised of thread and will need to be repaired occasionally as holes develop in the net due to the sharp spines of the fish. Accordingly, mechanical tools must be carried by the fly-fisherman while fishing, e.g., a conventional screwdriver and a "Phillips-type" screwdriver are among the tools needed.
Moreover, after a fish is hooked by a fisherman, the hook must be removed as gently as possible so as not to subject the fish to any unnecessary pain and to release the fish back into its natural environment which increases the survival rate of the fish. However, the hook is often deeply embedded in the fish and a hook extractor is needed_to minimize trauma to the fish. A hook extractor often encompasses a scissor-like implement with opposing surfaces at the tips so that the extractor can be inserted into the mouth of the fish to firmly grasp and remove the hook. A fish extractor is also used to remove the hook from vegetation, clothing, etc.
Since a fly-fisherman often fishes alone, there is also a requirement for a tool which will hold a grip to effectively achieve constant pressure and free the fisherman's hands to tend to other duties. An example of a tool which satisfies this requirement is a hemostat. A hemostat is a scissors-like device, however, there are opposed surfaces for gripping as opposed to cutting, and inter-locking teeth are provided to secure the hemostat in the closed pressure-applying position.
Scissors are also needed by a fly-fisherman for various jobs, such as cutting fishing line, trimming certain parts of the fly-fishing flies and leaders, etc. A fly-fisherman also needs split-shots attached to the fishing line near the fly-fishing lure to adjust the lure to the proper depth in the water, depending on factors such as water temperature, air temperature, and water current. Split-shot often are round and comprised of lead and are comprised of movable hemispheres for inserting the fishing line such that the split shot can be compressed around and fixedly attached to the fishing line. Split-shot used for fly-fishing is of varying sizes but is often smaller than that used for other types of fishing. Fly-fishermen, therefore, require a tool to compress the split-shot around the fishing line when they begin fishing and to reopen the split-shot for successive use after fishing.
Very importantly, many knots are required to be tied by the fishermen, for example, to tie the fishing line to the leader line. These knots are often complicated and difficult to tie, and they must be tied properly since they allow the fisherman to optimize the presentation of the fly on the water and to be assured that when a fish is hooked it will not be released by improperly-tied knots.
The backing part of the fishing line is the first line wrapped around the spool of the reel and is attached to the fishing line actually used for fishing and a leader is the part of the fishing line closest to the fly.
As mentioned previously, knots are needed at various crucial points in the fly fishing system. For example, a nail-knot is required when attaching the backing to the fly-line. Similarly, a nail-knot is needed to attach the butt end of the leader to the fly-line. Since many fly-fisherman build their own leaders, knots are needed in order to combine and repair various sections of the leader system. The flies are attached to the terminal section of the leader using a variety of knots, e.g. improved cinch, cinch, surgeons loop, blood knot, and the nail knot. The knot tying feature of the multi-purpose fishing tool of the present invention assists in tying these knots quickly and securely.
Accordingly, many different types of both mechanical and fishing tools are needed to constantly repair and fine-tune a fly-fisherman's equipment, and to assist a fly-fisherman with the line, lures, hooks and tying knots. The present inventors recognize the need for a device which consolidates all these required tools into one low-cost, compact, multi-purpose fishing tool. Many of these tools are well-known, however, carrying all of these tools when fishing is both cumbersome and impractical and leaves open the possibility of forgetting some important tools, which makes it more difficult to successfully fly-fish. The need for a compact, consolidated tool is further made necessary by the method of fly-fishing, where the fly-fisherman stands in the water, i.e., a river or a stream, up to the fly-fisherman's waist, or at least above the fisherman's knees. Accordingly, a fly-fisherman requires tools which are immediately accessible to him, since walking in and out of the water is time-consuming, uncomfortable and may distract the fish. Moreover, the tools must be placed in the fisherman's pocket or, preferably, suspended from his fishing vest since a fisherman is standing in the water and there is nowhere to rest any tools as is the usual case when one fishes from a boat or from land. The tool must be compact since a bulky tool hanging from the vest is impractical.
There have been many attempts in the past to provide a tool which is suitable for the fly-fisherman. However, these tools combine only some of the tools needed by the fly-fisherman.
Various types of fishhook extractors have been designed to remove the fishhooks from fish and unintentionally hooked items, e.g., birds, animals and vegetation.
Typical extractors are designed around long nosed scissors and "gun" models. Typical of plier designs are the extractors of U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,779,123 and 3,778,919. Both designs have the plier jaws holding the hook barb to the side by, respectively a groove arrangement and an anchoring plate.
A typical scissor arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,862,327 where the hook is held to the side by the clamping action of a "U" shaped tip against the other, longer tip. Typical "gun" type extractors are taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,836,004 and 3,675,359. However, the problem with these devices is that they do not include many tools required such that a fly-fisherman must also carry with him many additional tools.
Various sizes and types of hemostats are also known, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,482 discloses a tool which is a modified basic hemostat design with handles in a clamping section. The hemostat comprises a hook retainer pin which eliminates the ability of the hemostat to slip off a hook during the extraction process. The hemostat may be used as a vice for various fishing activities, e.g., crimping split shot and a line scissors. However, this hemostat lacks many required tools required for fly-fishing, e.g., a knot-maker.
To date, no fishing tool has provided an incorporation of all the tools necessary for fly-fishing into one tool, as does the multi-purpose fishing tool of the present invention.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to combine all the tools necessary for successful fly-fishing into one multi-purpose fishing tool.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a fishing tool having a knot-maker which can facilitate the tying of knots specifically needed for fly-fishing.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a tool which may be used to evacuate eyelets on fly-fishing lures.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a fly-fishing tool which is of substantially simple and lightweight design and is inexpensive to manufacture.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a compact, light-weight and easy to handle multi-purpose fishing tool capable of being attached conveniently to a fisherman's vest.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method of tying fly-fishing knots.